The end of Death Note – where does the evil truly lie?

Death Note
I’m kind of late in writing my thoughts on the end of Death Note…I know everyone’s blogged about it already and even though my thoughts about the series haven’t changed very much since my halfway mark review of it, I just had to give my personal input about the ending of this amazing series…

Since I’ve already written a couple of review posts about Death Note, I’m only going to touch on the ending in this post. But just to reiterate, Death Note has been a suspenseful thrill ride for me since episode 1. Few series’ have piqued my interest so early on. I know many fans think the series went downhill after L died, but I think it was still good after that. Maybe after Light’s dad got killed did it start to decline a little but not too extreme. And the series’ ended not long after that so it’s not like it was “stuck in a rut” for seasons on end like many other Shounen Jump series’.

As for the actual ending of Death Note, I wasn’t really expecting Light to die so tragically. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t succeed in the end, but I thought he would either spend the rest of his life in jail, or at least be killed subtly in a professional manner. The big, bloody confrontation in episode 37 was rather unexpected. But as always for Death Note, it was brilliantly executed and I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. It was amazing how one little slip up out of all the careful calculating Light had made, could mean the demise of his entire identity. Even though I’ve never read the Death Note manga, I’ve read about how the ending differed from the anime. I actually think the anime is a bit better but both are pretty equal. Though the manga gives a little insight on what happened to the other characters, it doesn’t give very much. What is Misa going to do, how will Light’s mother and sister react, what will become of the real Death Note, and how will the world deal with the news of Kira’s death/true identity – these were all important aspects I think should have been covered. Ah well, most anime endings leave a lot up to the imagination so I guess Death Note is no exception.

So probably the main question that comes to mind at the end of the series is, does Light deserve any pity? Was he just in any of his acts and did any of the ideals he held within Kira hold any merit whatsoever? Personally, I think the core of his ideals were good, but the flaw lay within Light himself. Using the Death Note to destroy evil people and thus create a new, cleansed world may have been a good-intentioned goal at first, but Light’s obsessive and uncaring personality are what caused it to escalate into killing not just criminals, but anyone who might threaten Kira’s secret identity. Of course one could argue that he had to sacrifice even innocent people in order to keep control of the Death Note or else he would not be able to create this cleansed world he was seeking. But I think the real problem lies in not in who he killed, but how he felt and reacted to it. Whether he had to kill his own father for the sake of his cause or not is irrelevant…the way he reacted to it, without showing any hint of sadness or sympathy, caring more about finding out Mello’s real name than the fact that his own dad is dying before him, shows that if Light were to succeed in making this new and better world, he would not be a kind and caring ruler. The fact that he doesn’t even shed a tear or even think “Sorry dad, it’s all for a good cause,” proves that there’s something wrong with Light’s sense of what it means to be a good human being, and even if one agrees with his original ideals, seeing how twisted his priorities get in 37 episodes, makes it gratifying in the end that such a person did indeed not become the “god” of a new world.

Besides his father, there are numerous other examples of Light showing no pity for any of the “good” people who had to die for the sake of Kira. Of course the other major example is Takada Kiyomi, who he pretended to be in love with and even promised to bring with him to the new world…only to turn around the next minute and send her to her death just like every other criminal he had disposed of. It’s scary to think what kind of a world Light would create when he has pretty much no regard for the lives of others. Which raises the question, is Light the real villain or is the Death Note itself to blame? If the Death Note had fallen into the hands of a person as equally brilliant and cunning as Light, but one who was also more compassionate and sympathetic, then would the “cleansed” world they create be desirable? To me, the Death Note is an objective object that can be used for absolute good or absolute evil depending on the one who uses it. Though Light’s intentions may have been good at first, it’s obvious that the power he felt from possessing the Death Note, the hype his Kira alter ego received, the thrill of matching wits with L, and perhaps his own personal weakness to succumb to his primeval violent human nature, all contributed to him losing respectable human emotions of love, pity, and sympathy (or maybe he never had these to begin with?) and pretty much plunging into mad obsession with creating this new world of his, disregarding anything else. At first, Light was the real person and Kira was the alter ego. But as Light became more obsessed, Kira became his master self and Light became the false alter ego he would show to everybody.

Basically, to sum up my thoughts on the end of Death Note, it’s hard to say for sure whether the Death Note is a true source of evil or not. But it’s pretty safe to say that the real evil lies within Light’s personality and subsequent loss of humanity (I believe there was intentional irony in giving him the name “Light”.) One could feel sorry for him on the one hand since he was indeed a genius in his own right and he had some good ideals of cleansing the world of evil. But what good is that if he doesn’t even have feelings towards the value of a “good” human life? He would be no kind and caring “god” in this new world so it was more satisfying than not to see his reign as Kira finally come to an end. But is the message of the whole Death Note series simply “It’s wrong to kill people even if they’re bad” or is it “If you’re given so much power over others, it’s okay to use it for a good cause as long as you don’t abuse it and lose sight of what’s important in your own humanity?” I’m sure people will ponder these and other questions about the brilliant yet controversial series that is Death Note for many years to come. This series certainly stands out among anime and manga alike, and there’s no doubt it ranks among one of my personal favorites.

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. Son Gohan says:

    I think that no good can come from an instrument of death.
    There are two major flaws in Kira’s plan IMHO:
    1) How can he be absolutely certain that the people he was executing were villains? He judged the criminals based on news reports, but they could have been wrong. How many innocent people did Light sacrifice for his ideals? Everybody deserves a fair trial in democracy. Kira was just an omnipotent tyrant.
    2) He sentenced to death not only murderers and rapists, but even corrupted politicians, burglars and stalkers. Yes, those are all nasty deeds, but do these people really deserve to DIE? Everybody should get a second chance in life, Kira didn’t allow it.

    • ZARVOE says:

      ACTUALLY, Peopel deserve a fair tial period. Democracy as nothgin to do with it. popel think “Democracy” means “Freedoma nd fairness”, but itdoesnt. Democracyis nothign mroe than a form fo Government in which th Majority Will prevails, it is nto the same thing as Fairness. Fairtrials are not a Democraic Value. That’s nto to say a Democratic society can’t value it, but tis not a Value linked specifically with Democracy.

      Conversely, a society can exists that isnot a Democracy that also values Fair trials.

    • ZARVOE says:

      Sztill, I agree with yoru point. Smeone may be accused of a Crime, and not actually commit it. Light/Kira killed them based on them beign arested. Unless he just used newscasts of them beogn convicted. Even then perhaos they wer innocent but at leats hey’d have been convincted. Still, yoru right, if he killed them based soelly on arrests, then he doesn’t really know if they wer guilt or not.

      Light saw himself as the god of the new world, btu in reality he wasnt god, and didn’t know. He had no way to.

    • NO ONE. says:

      No one, doing this kind of BS should be given a second chance in this world.

      If real GOD were to put everyone through the punishment they deserve rather then weaklings like humans carry out judgment then the world would surely be a better place.

      And yes, I am not clean either but that is itself because, THIS WORLD DOES NOT FUCKING JUDGE EVERYONE.

      Don’t mind, nothing personal. I am just talking to a human who thinks that idiots and fuckers should be given a second chance after they have ruined someone’s life.

  2. Better_than_L_and_Kira_Combined says:

    I have to admit that I was upset with the end result in Death Note. I actually wanted Kira to get away with it and create his ideal utopia. Of course, when I think about it, Light really did become corrupt with the power that he was given, but some part of me really wanted to see him do it. If only he had just given Mikami (I think that was his name) a piece of the Deathnote to write on instead of having to deal with the whole fake Deathnote thing. Part of the reason why I want Kira to have won is because I feel that he was cheated in the end.

  3. saeed says:

    when L died i stopped watching the show but then i was couris about the end so i continued it and the end was pethitic the part at the end wich i hated is that ryuk killed light and the flows in lights final plan is that he put his complete trust in mikami if i was him and had the death note i will act like i trust my Follwers but i will have a back up plan that will Grantee my victory and when i saw ryuk flying in the end i thought they will do a second season for death note and what was heart breaking is L’s death i actually cried because before his death he said to light ” you are my best friend ” that was heartbreaking T_T

  4. Yin says:

    the further of the death note portrayed light as “second coming of jesus”
    it is obvious from the title pages of the death note that he is pictured as a cruficied crist. it is a irony how “second coming of crist” defines jesus to “judge the living and the dead” perhaps Death Note shows the aurthor’s defination of bible.
    to be fair, i’m not surprised that light met his death in agony, from the start, he was a sacrifice to the world.
    many cultures in the world have “god of death” and some are portrayed positively, like hindu god and egyptian god. it is because ancient believed that “cleansing” of the world is neccesary to build another world. in order to improve and advance humanity, some must die. this ideal is also portrayed in manga called “rurouni kenshin”
    light needed to be heartless in order to achieve his ideal. when i read this manga, i saw him as a god of death, meant to be sacrificed for the good of humanity.
    the argument over the true “evil” in this story is argued over and over, but the truth is that “good” and “evil” are just concept. light said in boom 9 that “if kira wins this fight and rules the world, than he is good, if he loss and get caught, he is evil” i think there is no other word that defines better.
    the winner is righteous, there is no rules set in stone that defines good and evil.
    in philosophical point of view and realistic point of view, i think author did a perfect job in crucifying kira.

    • ZARVOE says:

      The Christ imagry reflected Light’s atttidue toward himself, and his followers idea of what he was. I dont’ see Light as a Christ Figure at all. Christ may Judge us at the end, but at leats he actually knows what we’ve done and has real Authority to do so, whereas Light userped this Authority, takign itupon himself an is actually unaware of if the peopel he lkills are guilty or nto a lot fo the Time. Heck, he kills innocent people just to protect himself. Did the 12 FBI agents deserve to die? Did L? Did Jesus kill peopel just to protect himself?

      Jesus also willignly sacrificed himself on the Cross, whereas ligth’s death wasn’t actually all that willing and it wasn’t a Sacrifice. He did because his actiosn caught up with him. In that sense he’s no different froma serial killer who gets caught and killed bythe police becsuse he refuses to come along withthem to stand trial.

      Light saw himself as a Christ Figure, but didn’t really hve the compassion, legitimate authority, or even mentality that Christ had.

  5. Kakihiro says:

    First, I would like to state that Deathnote truly is to me one of the greatest manga’s and animations of all time. It was suspenseful, meaningful and it me and many of friends who are familiar with the Deathnote series in deep thought for quite a while. Did Kira truly deserve the die? Did he deserve to die the way that he did? Yes, it was so much how he died, I just think that the world in this story was done a powerful favor by having this corrupt murder be taken down. Kira was a murder, a self murder pure and simple. He had a grudge against the world and he just so happen to get lucky enough to come across a tool such as the Deathnote. “Absoulte power, corrupts absouletly” comes to mind when I think about what kind of a person Kira (Light) truly was. His intentions my have started out just, but as time passed and various pressure-filled events transpired, to me, he began to get despirate and less forgiving. It was almost as he was losing himself within his selfish goals and his power. Also because of his power, he began to manipulate the fates of those around him. To me, this makes Kira the lowest of the lowest.

    No single human being should have the kind of power that he had for himself and on the world. No single human being has the right to try and decide the fate of another human being the way that Kira did.

  6. Michelle says:

    He should have destroyed the book when he found it. Even if all his plans had gone through and he ended up a god in his own right, who can say about his successor? Or the successor after him? Hitler, Stalin, Vlad, they all had the power of death note. One word, and anyone they wished would die. They too tried to create a “cleansed world”.
    Absolute power is absolute corruption, Light was just an arrogant kid, (brilliant, but arrogant.) I guess the underlying message of this manga is the only one who can handle the power of a god, may be God.

    • ZARVOE says:

      Actually, if Light had to think abotu his successor, then that only proves he wasnt a god after all. Gods don’t die. Light was just a man who fancied himself a god. h never really was one and could never succeed in becomign one just by using the Death note, even if he took over the world as its open Emperor and commanded all nations. A Man with a tool that can kill ohers is still a man. The Death Note hd all the power, Light just used it. And he had no other Power. he coudltn end famines and make crops grow, cure the sicks, reveal the secrets of the Universe, or anythign a god can do. he wasnt even wiser than other Humans and, while a genious, wasnt all that much sarter next to a god. he was just a man, nothign more.

  7. I comply agree with Better_than_L_and_Kira_Combined said second comment in Texas the seirs is berly starting it`s on the 3 episod.In a way I wanted kira to win but the thing that I hated the most is that L live more then Light [Kira].I hate how L treart Light[Kira] at the end at lest that`s what I hear. I wise at lest Light[Kira] would have fail but lived I allso hate that Light [Kira] family didn`t find out that Kira was [Light]. I never trusted Ryuk I hate him now more then ever because he casused Light[Kira] to die.I WISE KIRA WOULD HAVE LIVED.p.s. Why is Ryuk still there after Light [Kira] is dead he said at the beging that he would omly stay untill Light [Kira] is dead or the death note is finshed so if Light [Kira] is dead why is he still there?

  8. Anya says:

    I love Anime THE DEATH NOTE I think it is good for teen like me. I like anime and this one of my favorite. I din’t watch all of it but I like about The death note that like he right down the name of that person and time than he make a plan how that person going to die. And there one another person who trying to discover who is that killer all of thodse peple. And his fathers is police man or something like that, and he trying to find out who is morder all of those people, and i think he have a reason to kill those people.

  9. Ekiteu says:

    I would hav liked 2 see light to rule the “new world” he was trying to create and win in the end because its true that he was the only one who was fit to rule but i agree that near the end he became power hungry. But his intentions were good the reason why he killed inocent people like his father for example was because they would have been the key to him being caught. so he had to what he had to do what he had to do to complete his goal. But in the end I have a question… Who are we to judge people?
    Who are we to say whats right and whats wrong? maby what light was do was right to some and wrong to some.I wanted light to win and it pissed me off that he was killed just think what the world would be like if just about all the criminals were gone it would be great. I support kira (light).

  10. ryuk hater says:

    i liked L and light equally…i dont think that nethier should have died.But thats how life is and all we humans on earth are soppose 2 do is live life,let god handle the rest.Death note is a good show it has a meaning,a warning.i dont understant something…….Why did light have 2 kill L,why did ryuk kill light.I hate ryuk with all my heart but at the same time another part of me hates light,L was young and only tried 2 save the world from kira,and light was also young and was trying 2 save the world.in their own ways it was what they believed in.And i know its bad that L is gone and light is gone(he dosent even exist anymore,since he neither goes to heaven or hell)but the best part is that it wont go on anymore,the killing will stop…thats what we think but what will happen when another picks up the death note..there is only 1 god and no one in this world should try 2 help him out,its his job,our job is to let him do his job,with no interference….i have 2 say i did cry when i watched it POOR L AND LIGHT=*(

  11. Ben says:

    Firstly, wow a lot of these comments are barely even English.

    But on topic, I don’t know why people are mad about Light dying. From the beginning, Ryuk said that the Death Note user will experience torture and misery beyond any other human’s experience, and when the time comes, Ryuk told Light that he would write his name in his own Death Note. Light got what was promised to him, what he accepted at that time (but in the end cries “I don’t want to die!”), and what he deserved. We all want a world without criminals and bad people, but don’t forget that given certain circumstances, You might be a criminal right now. And certainly everyone has done minor offenses, and yet don’t usually feel we deserve the punishment for our crimes. Plus, Light was trying to create a world that was peaceful Only because people feared Him. That’s a cruel dictatorship, and wouldn’t work. Fear cannot create good people. People are nice to their fellow man out of mutual respect, high morals, and love for each other. Light’s scores in school say he’s a genius, but I’d say his ideas about morality and justice are pretty stupid. There is a difference between good and evil, and the statement “Kira wins, he’s good, and if he’s caught, he’s evil.” is the same thing as saying “History is written by the winners.” Of course, nobody would stand up to Light if he kills everyone who stands against him, but that just means nobody will Say he’s evil. The fact remains that he is evil. And finally, the Death Note. It provides a power that is not for human beings to possess. Anyone, as Ryuk says, who uses it, will be miserable, and no good can come from using it, even once. The justice system we have is not perfect, but improving it would be a correct goal. Killing people on one’s own would be combating Evil with more Evil.

  12. Allen says:

    I believe what Light was doing was justice.He gave innocent people a feeling
    of security.If i had the Death Note I would have done the same thing.The
    world really is rotten.People who pretend that it is not are just lying to themselves.Every day there are reports of murders on the news and so many
    people get away with murder because there is no sufficient evidence.
    Kira was there to stop that.He would judge criminals so that they would not harm the innocent.Light saw a chance to cleanse the world of evil and he took it.Light’s only mistake is that he trusted Mikami.He should have deduced the chance that Mikami would disobey him.In the end Light got too overconfident (which was a mistake) and it led to his downfall.I think that while he lasted Light
    was one heck of a god.

  13. Kira says:

    I was for Light, but for a smart person he made childish mistakes. If he was smart he would have just ignored all those who were after him. L would have never known if he was truly in the correct city if Light never tried to respond.
    Light could of had Mikami make the copy of the book, use only ripped parts and have it buried underground in a park at the beginning when Mikami just got the book. That way hours before he had to show up for the finally he could dig up the real book.
    Or at least at the end give up the book and all his bad deeds would be forgotten and the death god could still take his life but this time he would die innocent, not knowing he killed so many.
    I have never seen the ending for the manga I am looking for that now.

    I was for Light, he hated the evil the world showed to him, growing up with a father who’s soul job is to get the “bad guys”, its logical that Light would do the same by cleansing the world.
    Light knew that the world would fear him, after making many mistakes he was just trying to maintain his hold on his ideal world.
    But many would also support him…Many people would like a world where crimes are no longer there. A world free of all this hate, Some people would live normal life’s, others would fear Light but why? “If you fear him then you must be a person who is sinful”.

    When Light made his first kill, his soul was never to enter “Heaven nor Hell”. Giving up then would be a mistake.

    What you should ask yourself is, if this book fell into your hands by random chance. Would you not use it? Burn it? Would you ask yourself why does it exist if no human was ever to use it, like Light did?

    Light seemed to believe God was real and when he started using the book he took notice that God never stopped him. In fact it seemed to him that God let him have the book like a chosen one and was on his side helping him when he gets in a hard spot and then someone else enters the world and suddenly he has a chance to make a move to beat L.

    Lights idea was for good, by taking out the evil in the world using death. Even if some of the criminals changed in mind, body and soul. They would die and go to heaven like all other people and be judged. So religiously, your mistakes on people you judged will be judged again by God himself for Heaven or Hell.

    Would you use the book knowing your soul will never go to Heaven nor Hell?Would you take it as a sign from god? Would you take the book off the ground knowing if you don’t some other person would get it and use it?

    If I had the book I would want to do the same as light, but for my soul…I would not trade it for power. If my soul would be like all the other then and God told me himself that I can use it and judge mankind without being held responsible for all the death. Then I would so test it out.

    Anyone can kill another, but it doesn’t make them evil.

  14. Jose says:

    what ever happened to judge not unless ye be judge. Kira pure evil. He no right to judge other humans he wasn’t one. What makes us humans is our emotions and countiose and he had neither. The way he just manipulated or killed everyone in his life was just evil. This is what makes me so mad about kira he was smart, hansome, had a good famely, populer, women loved him even enough to die for him, and what does he do he squanders his smarts, he kills or trometises the people who love him. In conclusion this has got to be in the top 3 anime slash mangas for me I mean it had me at the egde of my seat with emotions, especially anger for kira which I never had for eney anime charector in my life.

  15. Adrian says:

    First of all, it’s called basic english and I sympathyse with those who have said that in posts before me. Secondly, I think that to try and judge fictional actions that involve unrealistic powers like those of the Death Note is an excercise in personal opinion. I am not even sure if the human mind can realistically answer whether it is right or wrong for something like that to happen. It is definitely wrong to kill all those people and it is probably wrong to not do it and let them kill someone else. The only difference is who gets blamed. I think the only truly righteous characters where the police officers and L because they did not attempt to judge these actions they only intended to bring Kira to justice and let the courts decide. I know that isn’t really an answer to the questions raised by this compelling anime series, but sadly it is the best answer that we as the human race have been able to develop from all of our combined historical experience. Anyone who pretends to know better is childish and should recognize the difference between their own personal opinions and beliefs and between reality and anime for that matter.

  16. Emily says:

    If some1 can tell me if there’s a site were you can read Death Note online, can you please tell me? My e-mail is bye300@gmail.com

  17. Shamus says:

    This is my favorite anime out of any i have watched, loved it from start to end, couple comments to some of the posts here though

    1) to the person(s) who say i hate watching people die, everyone deserves a second chance and the whole hooblah know that this is an anime series and they arent promoting kill everyone who is bad, and the purpose of anime, or anything that is put on tv, is to entertain you and get high ratings, if they succeeded they are happy, dont get too into it.

    2) As for everyone who hates how the show ended, i admit i was suprised, but when you think about it…it should of been a bit obvious! Ryuk said he would wirte his name in his book someday so you should of seen that coming, either as what happened into the series, or as an epilogue such as *light kills everyone, creates a great world and dies X years later after Ryuk writes his name in the book* which sounds better?

    That also leads me to another point, people who are pissed at the ending keep saying OMG they are lazy they should of kept going blah blah blah. This isnt one of your shows that has mad fight scenes in it, like gundom (or however you spell it that whole machine fighting series, never watched it) or dragonball Z (which is like a kabillion episodes long, ew) or One piece (even longer then DBZ i believe…) All GOOD animes come to an end early, it becomes very boring to watch they same stuff happen for like 100 episodes

    OMG HE BECAME A SUPER SAIYAN, OMG NOW HES SSJ2! NOW SSJ3!!! THIS IS A GOOD SHOW *end sarcasm*

    The show was the right length and ended fine, they didnt drag it out by having Light kill another 4395726234 people in some unique way by outsmarting them, that would of gotten boring after a point…

    3) Saeed, Light did have a back up plan, he had a piece of paper on his watch and a pen with him, unfortunately he wasnt very subtle with it, and really didnt expect his plan to fail. He instructed mikami not to do any killing on a day and he did, therefore Near caught on to the plan, if that had not happened light would of won, and everyone there would of died (light probably would of killed mikami too after it was done too) and then the series would of ended with light winning, could of done that i guess, but this was a great plot twist. Everyone was like YEAH LIGHT WON WOOT WOOT YEAH GO LIG-…OMFG HE LOST?!?!

    Also Saeed, light also said that his plan was to get close to L so he could eliminate him, sadly L saying Light is his friend was just part of the plan, Light’s logic is pretty much “If you are not with me then you are against me” only he had a book of death and anyone who retaliated he saw as “people who did not want a pure world, and were not fit to live in it”

    Corrupted logic i guess.

    5) “Light could of had Mikami make the copy of the book, use only ripped parts and have it buried underground in a park at the beginning when Mikami just got the book. That way hours before he had to show up for the finally he could dig up the real book”

    Quote above is said by kira a couple posts up along with some of other points about how kira messed up. The problem why that wouldnt of worked is because mikami was being followed anyways, he probably would of been found in some way when he buried it or went to recover more pieces of paper, though the plan was still brilliantly planned out, mikami just goofed in one place and it came tumbling down

    Also I’d also like to say Light was pretty dumb in some ways, he was obsessed with justice so he killed Lind L. Tailor and they caught him, he could of kept shut and succeeded (though then thered be no story and thus no anime) though you cant blame him for that mistake. The mistake i blame him for is getting into police profiles and changing the way he kills right after they suspect hes a student, this only pressed L to delve into Light being a student. If it had been me i would of stopped all killing for a couple of weeks and resumed by killing at random times to throw the police off, though L still might of seen through that

    6) And finally i would like to say the story is semi-flawed with the rules of the death note, for example “you have to have the face of the name you are going to kill so that people sharing same name dont die” yet there is a point in the series where Makami texts the one blue haired lady the name and she kills the man on the bus without her seeing his face…

    i havent watched the show for awhile but im sure there were others, thats just an example

    damn thats a lot of typing :O

    • anon says:

      “yet there is a point in the series where Makami texts the one blue haired lady the name and she kills the man on the bus without her seeing his face…”

      You can hear him taking a picture on his phone, I’m assuming he sent the name as well.

  18. FlyingDove says:

    Rarely do I come across manga that really causes one to think deeply. I’m terrible at conveying my own thoughts and feelings to the public, but I’ll give it a shot. Here goes…

    Kira was not absolute evil. Nor was he absolute good. No, what he was was far worse; human. Humanity is great, but with the inevitable flaws that destroy “the greater good” image. A human does not, and should not, have the ability to cleanse the world. Why? It’s not as simple as: this guy is evil, this guy should live. Good and Evil? Righteousness and Wrong? Humans can pretend to know the answer to what is right and wrong, but the truth is we’ll never know. We as people do not have the power to know. Therefore, we cannot judge. Kira also killed the innocent when he felt threatened. But even then, how do we know who is innocent? It is exactly how Light said it, “If we catch Kira, then he is evil. If Kira wins, he is righteousness.”

    Even the Shinigami were portrayed as human as the…well, humans. Ryuk’s very existence explained something important: that when you don’t know, you can’t take sides. I personally was very glad that Rem died, not because she helped Kira, but because she judged without knowing. That kind of action is terrible, and proves that Ryuk knew better. Still, it’s not as though Ryuk didn’t work for SOMETHING. Ryuk “dropped” the notebook specifically because he was bored, remember? Ryuk appeases himself, so even he wouldn’t be a good “judge”.

    Did Kira deserve to die? This is where it depends on whether you read the manga or watch the anime. In the manga, Kira is killed by Ryuk. In the anime, Matsuda kills Kira out of anger. The notable difference is the purpose of Ryuk and Matsuda. Ryuk kills Kira because it would be boring for him otherwise. Matsuda loses control. They both have their own side, and both are right and wrong. I believe that Kira deserved to be stopped, but whether death was the appropriate punishment…yes, I have to take a side, and I believe Kira deserved his death. That doesn’t mean I’m right, at any rate.

    I just said I had to take a side, and by saying so I hinted at the most important element of Death Note. Despite humans not being appropriate judges, we cannot go through life with no feelings at all, that’s human nature. Again, I use the quote, “If we catch Kira, he is evil”. Those who make up their minds, act on them, and convince other’s that they are right, these are the people who prove themselves. No, it doesn’t mean that they’re correct, but by the very human nature, someone needs to be.
    ————————————————–
    This next part isn’t quite as important, but as I just said, I need to take a side. These are my views on Death Note…I don’t care what you think about them.

    Kira was wrong. Absolutely WRONG. Light Yagami was good, but Kira was evil. In my eyes, these were two different people who lived in the same body. Light should have lived, but Kira should have been tossed in the deepest spiky-pit full of man-eating rodents that slowly…uhhh…nevermind. In the end, because Light fully became Kira, I don’t regret his death.

    Remember when Light said, “If you kill me in revenge of L, you’re worse than Kira”? It happened in the manga, not the anime (I don’t think those were the exact words, but they mean the same thing). Light/Kira was talking to Near. My opinion on this quote…bloody hell I’d kill him for L!!!!! Sorry, but because I believe Kira to be evil, and L to be good, yes, I feel this way. Even so, I wouldn’t be taking revenge JUST because L is right (I’m going to stop typing ‘I think’ because it’s getting redundant). I would take revenge more so because L…*giggles*…is the BEST CHARACTER EVER!!!! *turns into a rabid fangirl*. lol I just mean that I truly missed L when he died, and it’s all because of Kira. *w* grrrrrr…so yes, maybe I hate Kira for superficial reasons, but hey, that’s humanity.

    I wish Misa didn’t die. Actually, I wish she realized she was just a tool. Another reason I hate Kira is because he uses people like Misa, who don’t know better. Misa was a bit annoying/pointless to the plot, but a decent character in general, just naive.

    L…sigh…rest in peace.

    Overall, Death Note is a great series that really inspires emotion and drama. I haven’t watched all the episodes (I’m up to 33), but I’ve read the manga and fell in love with it. Great work!

  19. blake says:

    it was just incredible… i really loved the ending, but at the same time i hated it.. i just didnt want it to end.. i wanted it to go on forever and now… i feel like something is missing.. i know that sounds really gay, but DeathNote has become a major part of my life… idk i guess i can buy the manga..

  20. J Cow says:

    Well Death Note was a very intelligent series and the reason everyone liked it is for once we get to see a criminal who is smart. Every story in existence was about criminals who are dumb. It is so stereotypical for the bad guy to die in the end. Ending the story where the main character does something royally stupid like trusting a crack pot servant is absolutely unbelievably dumb.

    The ended looked rushed and every single person seeing the series can see it. We were basically cheated the ending we deserved. We made the creators of death note popular by liking what they started and they let us down. Which will make me think twice about absorbing anything these hacks write next time. You don’t start off making a smart series and then get weak when it comes to an ending. An ending that makes sense is a test of a writers skill. this showed a complete lack of skill in every way possible.

    I want the ending i was cheated out of. Even light in the end getting the better of everyone and killing himself or him being successful or even all in all maybe he would fail and be found out. but found out in a smart way. Where everything is done perfectly except he was out maneuvered not something as silly has someone forged the death note in one night and switched it from its hidden spot which seems to be completely left out as to how they found the secret spot. Give me a break. Pathetic and stupid cop out ending for a unskilled writer.

    very typical of japanese writing though to be cliché and weak in the end. Grow a back bone japanese writers. Not ever story with death in it should end with the main characters dieing in the end or committing suicide because they broke a finger nail. Even if light were found out in this manner he would not have lost his cool and he wouldn’t have claimed victory. remember this is the same guy who assumed everything is recorded. He would have acted in that room as if he was recorded and he would not have relied on a moron who can’t keep his cool as well. Give me a break.. oh god .. i am done right now the stupidity of the writers epic fail with this ending is just getting on my nerves.

    • jack the ripper says:

      Thank you!!

      Geez. I thought I was the only one who was disappointed with the uninspired ending.

      A good friend of mine recommended the show, saying it was awesome. The show was popular so I was a little skeptical, because most popular anime suck.(Bleach and Naruto are perfect examples.) So one day after school I decided to watch the first few episodes. Which I did and I was really into the show. Like, when I got home I’d watch it and when I’d finish my homework I’d do nothing but watch death note. But…..contrary to what most people wrote about Death Note, I don’t really like it. Well…..its sure as heck not the best anime around and I can point out a few flaws that killed the series for me and MANY others.

      1. Here’s my problem with death note. And it’s a sad because it did have to happen and it literally killed the series for me.

      They killed L!

      Yup. That alone ruined the series.

      Why you say?

      To many people, L was the most important and interesting character. Light wasn’t a great character. Neither was Misa.

      The only one who is great is L. And they killed him! The japanese editors and the people who made the show were insane to kill him.

      For those of you who watched “The Dark Knight”, think of L as The Joker. Sure L is the good guy but he’s the one everyone wanted to see. Just like Joker in “The Dark Knight”. In that movie The Joker made it awesome, and without him, it wouldn’t be nearly as awesome. Also, you don’t see the director of “The Dark Knight” killing off joker in the middle of the movie. Why?
      Because they know that people wouldn’t like the movie if the person that they paid to see dies in such a lame way. This happened in Death Note. I was shocked when L died.

      Shocked in a good way?
      Nope.

      Personally, it wouldn’t have bothered me that L died if his death was epic, and that he was replaced by a better character.

      Sadly, his death was not epic. And he was replaced by well….two not so good characters. Like, if your going to kill the best character, the very least you could to is make it memorable.

      After L’s death the series went completely downhill.

      Near wasn’t L. Neither was Mello. Near didn’t have any personality. He was just there. And Mello was too emotional. Quite frankly, I liked Mello. He was the badass that the show needed.

      Other characters.

      Light- I dislike him intensely. He was just too perfect. And too over confident, which even led to his downfall. Light isn’t a likable character.

      Misa- I dislike her also. She was to stupid to even be included in the plot. Her voice is mind numbing annoying. I had to stop myself from muting my tv when she was talking. And like, why does she immediately loves Light? Misa is just an annoying character. I was hoping Light would have killed her. And wouldn’t any girl care that she was being used? Not too realistic there.

      Near- Cannot replace L. Not in a million years. Near looks like he’s 12, 13, or 14. Hard to believe that someone that young could figure out the connection between kira and Light, and L couldn’t?

      Death Note isn’t perfect. The characters could use some work. Light doesn’t have much depth. neither do other characters. And don’t get me started on the ending. I watched every episode of death note and I feel like I was cheated at the end. It should have been L to figure it out. Everyone should have known that Ryuk was going to be the one to kill Light though. Like, the ending was such a disappointment.

      Death Note to me is alittle over rated. Best anime around? No. Great anime? No. Good? Yes.

      All for now.

  21. light and l pwn says:

    I think L and Light should have lived because how L said to light that he was his friend and light shouldnt have started this good world and killed innocent cops for his games i liked light and L and how the anime was and shows were but manga on the 12 one in manga said at the end that there were more in kiras and death notes were poping out of no where i think L and light should have lived not die it would have been a better show if they didnt.

  22. darkmetal says:

    Deathnote brings forth a basis for powerful political and philosophical discussion. Light’s initial goal of ridding the world of evil is something that many Conservative’s would agree with, while Liberals lean toward believing that all people are basically misunderstood innocents. However, both viewpoints are basically only the beginning of a gradation of actual truth.

    Light begins his downward spiral when he begins to actually want to be the “God of a new world”; It is obvious that no human can be God. The cases where man has tried to take such a role has ended in dictatorship. It is apt to say that Communism/Fascism was based in the wildly overblown ego’s of a single man, such as Stalin, who killed 30 million, or Hitler, who tried to exterminate all Jews via the Holocaust. In the end, the position of the “God” became the reason for mass extermination, and the dictator’s life and safety became the reason for the exterminations, not evil.

    Also, the deathnote states that once a human uses the deathnote, that he/she can neither enter heaven or hell. One might speculate that this means that such a person would in time become a Shinigami, but I think the truth is that this indicates the final penalty of the deathnote–complete spiritual non-existence. A human who takes the place of a God can be neither Angelic or Demonic, he/she is doomed to complete eradication as penalty.

    Light, via his use of the Deathnote, begins to think of human lives as chess pieces, and little more. In the end, when he loses via the combined calculations of Near and Mellow, he cannot believe it. After all, how can “God” be wrong? This is why he is completely incredulous and out of control when his opponents don’t die. He also misunderstands that all humans are not within his control, which he seems to believe up to that point, as evidenced by the fact Mikami acts on his own.

    A point must also be made that in the end, when Light speaks about all the people he has killed, that the human race is still rotting. This leads me to believe that he begins to think HE is the only innocent in his egocentric mind. Again this harkens to the mentality of a dictator. If Light had won in the end, it is a good possibility that he would have become increasingly paranoid and eventually would have eliminated almost all, if not all, of the human race (if he could manage to fit all the names in the deathnote, that is).

    Light, in his final conflict and discussion with Near, states that nobody could understand him and his goals, as he is God of the new world. Near responds that he is simply a “Mass murderer” which is actually the truth. Near coldly speaks to Light like a child, as he now sees Light as delusional

    A final point: Light believes that after beating the greatest detective in the world, “L” that nobody could possibly match him. The fact is that “L” was never beaten, as his own death was simply factored into his analysis and planned for–hence the existence of Near and Mellow. L had planned for his death, and had advanced his position by understanding the qualities of Near and Mellow. Near had the same intellectual and intuitive power as L, and Mellow was the bold and impetuous side of L: Together, they were able to beat Light. The eventual victory was via L and his calculations.

  23. Chris says:

    I personally think that light was good and his intentions were good, but as u said, he eventually overused his powers and forgot about his ideals of making a “good” world and instead making “his” world where he ruled, anyone who did anything against him or even the slightest bit bad died. And nobody would know it was him. One of my favorite parts of the anime was when light gave up the notebook for a while and was himself again. He worked with L and he was trying to help the world. It was showing how much the notebook actually corrupted him. But alas he decided to stay evil in the end. But I still think he should have given up in the end and forfeited the notebook to ryuuk. That way he and mikami would lose their memories and become innocent. and the notebooks would be gone. Stumping Near. So then light could just live a normal life in the task force. But I guess the ending was very powerful and moving either way. The only thing I would want is another show like death note. More death note.(whole new plot.) or a new season in between the L and Near saga. While Light is still alive. But the fact is I’m going to miss the first anime show I have ever seen without only swords and fighting. And I’m going to miss this greatly.

  24. jeremiah says:

    I love death note. it really made me change my opinion on the way most manga is. i only seen manga and anime with swords and special powers. i will greatly miss death note. i too feel that there should be atleast another series or two like death note. i refused to finish the manga series because i didn’t want it to end. i know it will. it took me one month to read 9 volumes and i can’t find another series that will interest me like this one.

  25. Aki says:

    Hey FlyingDove check your facts. In both the anime and manga Ryuk killed Kira. Matsuda tryed to but was stopped by Azawa( name probably spelled wrong). Rewatch it and tell me I’m wrong. If I’m not you need to appologize to everyone whose read your message.

  26. Aki says:

    what’s wrong FlyingDove can’t prove me wrong?

  27. Colin says:

    Its funny that death note (Which is not supposed to have any real meaning apart from all humans die) has become such a huge moral debate…I think that that light was wrong in his actions and would have been better off without ever finding the death note but thats just me I guess. The ending of death note was kind of boring and predictable(I think the live action movies have a better ending) and as soon as Light stopped being guy with good but flawed intentions to crazy dictator guy (around volume 9 I think) he became unlikeable.

  28. unslept L says:

    I too beleive that Light did deserve to die, cause nobody has the right to judge another person, even if bad every human has a sense of goodness which can be brought out, and if Light had a lot of intelligence i think he should have thought of a way not to kill the innocent like Raye and is lover, etc.

  29. Ach1ys says:

    i would have put a rant about my thoughts but you practically said it. i liked it and hated it. i think the writer WANTED readers to get this reaction while he was writing through the story and getting you fond of characters then have them killed because the world is an awful truth. of course, that’s not the only truth he revealed as many of you probably know. we all have differen’t minds on everything. for those of you who say you hate evil, put yourself in their place. at least try to imagine what they would go to. and death is not the worst for Light…he’s confused…he lost control after recieving the power. remember, any one of us could have reacted like him. besides i think it’s more of Shimi-shit’s falt. that bastard from the other realm needs to fucking die. i liked him before, but then i realized he caused the problem resulting in L’s death. i really wanted the detective L to live! he felt real…i know, that would sound silly to you guys…:'( what an ugly world. it will never end…because without evil how can we have peace? the crimes were decreasing but that was the ‘evil’ Light who made it happen…not sure if you guys could even comprehend what i’m saying. i finished the shows today. i literally couldn’t stop crying.

  30. Court says:

    I’m extremely late in this, but hell i just recently was introduced to the Death Note Series. Excellent and most unique series i’ve seen in a long time.

    In the end I truely was sad to see light loose. I wanted to see him win and the world burn basically. The timing of the ending was great, as folks above have posted dragging it out much longer would have just created a boring repetative story.

    The one thing i wish they added, was light becoming a shinogami. His actions revitalized that dying world in some way shape or form. Some wrap up toward the shinogami and the Wammi Orphanage too.

  31. Aki says:

    HEY! don’t blame RYUK, he was just bored.

  32. mangaka12 says:

    i think there would be no such thing as a new world no matter how hard ppl try.evil is always livig in this world.Kira my have had a way of justice other ppl think different which means also where is the true jusice

  33. Adrian says:

    Well…
    I truly believe that Kira is justice.
    Kira will save the world from all wrongdoings and make a world of good.
    It wasnt anyones fault, people just stood is his way.

    Allgoods.

  34. K. says:

    though this may sound weird to others I kinda wanted Light’s plan to work out ,yes innocent people died but at least it was for a worthy cause . who can honsetly say that they wouldn’t want to live in a world without crime and pain . Death Note was an amazing series and it would have been awesome if the Light would have won in the end

  35. Aki says:

    Unfortunately Evil presents itself to the world. Evil must exist for there to be good.
    “The light travels a long way only to see dark arrived first.” The light needs dark to be strong. You know what I mean?

    I mean I’m huge fan of DN because of the grey area between Good and Evil.

  36. Valentinez says:

    Light is more the Anti-Christ.
    You see, the Anti-Christ pretends to be Christ to win the trust of the ignorant.

    In the end, Near was right.
    Light was a crazed Serial Killer.

    But I did want to see Light win.
    Can’t say why, I just left like Light should have won. He was smarter than what the ending suggested. But that’s just my opinion.

    I think Light should have pulled a “Double Wammy!”

    He should have copied the Second Notebook
    [The one in his possession]
    And had the real one hidden while the fake was on the other guy.
    [Near Tells the Task Force to bring the notebook they have with them, but that it not be carried by Light, so another Task Force member carries it. That’s what I mean by ‘the other guy’]
    Also, as insurance, he should told his accomplice to tear pages out of the notebook for himself, and not to write them until he said so, BEFORE making the other copy.

    And not to hide the ripped out pages with the real notebook, but at anytime if he needed to use the real notebook, to use the notebook and not the pages.

    And on that day, Light should have told him to bring the pages he ripped out of the original with him, and Light should have left pages from his real notebook near the warehouse somewhere just in case.

    In the end, I guess he was too cocky…

    I really liked Light in some ways, but overall he was a bad guy, using people, killing people. ‘Good’ people don’t do those sorts of things. With Power always comes Corruption, I.E. the willingness to use that power for your own benefit.
    You know, Light was kind of like Hitler.
    “Cleansing the World”
    “New World Order”

    Nazis Anybody?

    If Light had never found the Notebook, I believe he would have been a good guy. And got with Misa! But that’s a whole other Notebook, huh?

    But that’s beside the point.
    Near should have CLEARLY outsmarted Light.
    Light didn’t look like he was losing his edge until the end, that’s why it sucked.
    And Lights Death was to Pathetic.
    Honestly, he should have killed himself.
    Whipped out a gun and done himself in.
    That’s how the Light I know would go out.
    He wouldn’t have lost his sanity like that.
    [Well, maybe it was already gone, but still, you get my point.]
    With a BANG!

    Here’s my ending:

    Just as Soon as No one Died…

    Light:

    *Looks Stunned*
    *Closes His Eyes*
    *Reaches in his Pocket*
    *Pulls out Desert Eagle*
    “You Win L… I’ll see you in Hell NEAR!”
    *BANG!*

    And then that other guy
    [I forget his name]
    He should have burned the page with the names on it as a precaution after writing the names. There are no rules that say if the page is destroyed before the person who’s name it written dies, the entry will be voided, so he should have done that!

    It would be the perfect ending.
    No Real Proof of Light being Kira, Light and Near Win. In some respects.
    But over all, Near was right, and Light Dies.

    It could have ended better in any case.

  37. Random says:

    Personaly i really like death note, it makes people think of what world we live in. And maby even realize what THEY do to other people.
    Humans can discuss right or wrong in thousens of years-they will never find the right answer.
    Beacuse there is no. As L said “Justice will prevaile” -The one who winns is justice. (someone mentioned this higher up) He is right in his own way, thats how he see it, when someone else sees it as pure evil. But you should know people-there IS no evil or good nor right or wrong. What you view as wrong may another think of as right.
    I have to say that the ending in DN were rather pathetic of light.
    The light WE all know and love/hate is cooler than that, he would NEVER say something such as “i win” before he is really sure of that they wil die.

    It would be more of lights style to make mikami write down his name too to make it look like his innocent. In the fake of course, and to make sure that it was fake, he would’ve tested it on criminals. Then they would’ve arrested mikami and light would kill him off with the piece of paper in his clock.
    Well…thats what i expected of him…But really! i dont get it! i knew that he almost were on the verge of insanity, But he wouldnt behave like that when its uncertain that they will die!!
    well….im done ranting, just some food for mind^^

    OH and if he would lose, he would’ve done it with style-like stabbing himself with somethin’ cause if he had a gun he could simply shoot the others^~

  38. Ending? was bad says:

    Basically, i thought the ending was horrible. Kira should of lived on and L should not have been replaced by N and M. The fact that Kira had a sudden change in character towards the end of the series and became a psychopath truly ruined the whole story.

    If Kira had maintained his personality and intelligence while fighting with N (L’s successor) he would of came up with a much better plan in the final battle. Kira had shown us an extremely different personality towards the end while loosing his cool as Light. The director had made him careless in the making of the plan without him watching out for any holes that could have happened as he did before. The normal Kira would not of said “I win” to give off his identity and would of created a back up plan. For example, because he had the names of all the people except for N, he could of killed off everyone with the extra piece of paper with the exact time when he entered then use a gun to simply kill N.

    Because of the sudden change in the character of Kira, the series seemed to me as if it was rushed and the director only wanted to kill him off. I also believe that Light should have been made to be liked. It would of been much better if he would have actually fell in-love with Misa.

    I rate this series 8.5 out of 10 but would of possibly rated it 10 out of 10 if only some of my factors were taken into account. Kira proved to be smartest character in the beginning and then yet showed himself to be more idiotic then any other character iv seen. This was the biggest disappointment in the film.

  39. anonymous says:

    @Valentinez
    the “copy the other notebook” idea you had, if i remember it correctly, every member of the investigation team was given the privilege to put a password to the vault where the notebook was kept in, and the vault wouldn’t open unless all the passwords are to be typed in correctly am i right?
    But i also agree that light should also win, although my reasons are pathetic, like just because he is of higher caliber than Near
    anyway Light run out of luck and Near won by a margin of luck, but i guess he could have won if he and mikami were more careful

  40. JR says:

    This anime was the most gripping and suspenseful I have ever watched. I hated the ending so much though. I actually wanted Light to win even though I knew killing all the policemen and detectives were wrong. Let’s face it, even the police can’t stop crime the way Light did. I believe the only reason L died was because even though he suspected Light to be Kira, he became attached to him on some level. The whole series was a total mind f*ck and it was pure genius. There were too many comments to read but someone asked “did all these people (criminals and offenders) that Light killed really deserve to die?” Imo, everyone deserves to die, no matter how pure and kind your heart is. Even L and Near were willing to sacrifice innocent lives to prove a theory of theirs. Some people believe “kill one, save many” but the truth is Light did the exact opposite even though it was kind of evil. Compare the amount of criminals, bullies, and menaces to society that Light killed and the amount of innocent people he killed. The differences are great. Anyways, one of the best animes I’ve ever watched, I wish there was more, and I wish I didn’t watch and finish it all in 3 days.. lol..

  41. fd says:

    ya scrud up
    i expected more physical contact
    between light and the girl
    haha
    He should have destroyed the book when he found it. Even if all his plans had gone through and he ended up a god in his own right, who can say about his successor? Or the successor after him? Hitler, Stalin, Vlad, they all had the power of death note. One word, and anyone they wished would die. They too tried to create a “cleansed world”.
    Absolute power is absolute corruption, Light was just an arrogant kid, (brilliant, but arrogant.) I guess the underlying message of this manga is the only one who can handle the power of a god, may be God.

  42. Nakeeya says:

    You can argue morals all you want in regards to who is “right” and “wrong” in Death Note. That’s what makes it a really good story; it makes you think and apply the character’s feelings and actions to your own life & moral code. Kind of like Magneto vs. Professor X if anyone here is familiar with the X-Men comics series.
    However, though I have many reasons for completely HATING the character Light Yagami after the first volume or two of the manga, Light Yagami is NOT moral because of the reasons behind his actions- not the individual murders/judgments he’s responsible for.
    At first I agreed with him, and yeah, I’ve almost thought I might use the Death Note against people *I* think are evil if I were in that situation. So Light starts out good- even saves some lives- eventually he becomes corrupt. The second he envisions himself as a good of a new world, even if he thinks he’s doing the *right* thing by leading society into some kind of peaceful utopia- he’s no longer using the Death Note to help others or make the world a better place. Every time he kills to save his skin from L & L’s successors he’s going against the ideals that *he* preaches about to Kira’s opponents. Every time that he kills petty thieves or other criminals who normally wouldn’t ever be given the death penalty, just to ‘experiment’ or prove a point, he’s doing something that is very very evil (and hypocritical).
    The death scene at the end actually made me cheer out loud- both when I read the manga and when I watched the anime. It’s sad that a young man like him has to die- or it would be if it seemed possible that he might turn around and realize he’s wrong while serving a prison sentence. I don’t think it’s possible. I think he had gone insane that god complex so it was too late.
    If you want proof that he went too far just re-watch the episode “Father”. He knows he’s dooming his dad, not only to human death but, as the rules state, the absence of any chance for an afterlife. Soichiro is an innocent man who Light claims to look up to and take his inspiration to make the world a better place from, so putting him in that situation was very wrong.
    There’s more innocent people, like Raye Penber and others, who he killed needlessly.

  43. robert gibbs says:

    i feel bad for light because misa didnt get caught to and he made sure she was safe by taking the notebook away from her and i feel bad for her because she halved her life twice or him and now it is basically for nothing

  44. Niha says:

    I did not like the ending of the Death Note….The writer of the Death note should have brough some more Episode in this contrast like showing more of Light university days with L and little fash back about the L own personal family life (like the way he was brough up and how in such a young age become a Deductive) , Light love life, marriage and the Death of the light should have send a message to the Viewers that atlast the Evil dies and Truth Wins.

  45. Noctis says:

    It’s as Light’s father, Soichiro Yagami, said. “The real evil is the power to kill people. Someone who finds himself with that power is cursed. No matter how you use it, anything obtained by killing people can never bring true happiness. “

  46. Brock says:

    The early episode when Light kills a Coffee shop worker for being a sex offender in the past comes to mind when I think about all of the horrible things he did, often just to pointlessly establish that he was all powerful. He was absolutely delusional, and I find it hard to even consider him as a protagonist. L was the real main character of the series until his utterly pointless death. What the hell was the point in him dying just to be replaced by two weaker characters, especially 12 episodes before the finale. He was an amazing character, and like the others in the task force he felt real and truly good. The only character I hated more than Light was Misa. Not only was she annoying, pointless, unrealistic, and stupid but she was also a complete psychopath. She killed two completely innocent news reporters just to attract Kira’s attention. She disgusted me, and would have ruined the show had it not been for L. The show was still versy suspenseful, and I enjoyed it. It just would have been pouch better without Misa, Near or Mello. (Just remembered, Misa also killed the task force member. It amazed me that the were working with the sociopathic murderer that killed their friend and co worker for so long)

  47. Tim says:

    I had hoped at the end, everyone but Light would have died and Misa would have walked in with a piece of a Death Note, preperation Light could have made long ago, burying a piece of Death Note and providing her that information to dig it up over the phone, (Meet me in the place we first kissed) or something encoded like that for her to find and touch the page.

    I would have felt better if Light or someone else had actually been tricked into defeating themslves instead of just being confronted and shot like he was.

  48. luke says:

    Death note
    デスノート
    Death note
    Death note talks about morality, crime, justice, freedom of expression, existence, stereo typing and death
    Light Yagami is a clever male he attends night school as well as normal school it is apparent that his parents have spent a lot of money on him and his education.
    One day at school light sees a black note book fall from the sky not too fussed about it he picks up the death note not knowing its true power. Tacking it home, light thinking that is sick and immoral
    Morals of death note
    Morality
    The morality used in this show talks about that the world and how it would benefit with some people death. Light as he finds out `bout the death note`s power to kill light starts to “punish” people by using both heart attacks and accidental death. By doing this it is hard to investigate because how do you investigate heart attacks.
    Justice
    The justice in this show is very popular by the people because if a person commits a crime dies of a heart attack this stops crime and the age of peace sets in.
    This is only achieved towards the end of death note in the last 30 episodes 10 years have pasted and people that are good hard working and good people love this rule because crime is practically abolished and those that are criminals live in fear. Fear because Kira is always there
    Freedom of expression
    death note talks about this because light`s view on morality; people witch commit a crime should die, this makes people good and in lights mind he would become “god of this new world”
    There are websites about this feathering death notes this (unlike what most people think) is about freedom of expression.
    Existence
    Because later in death note Teru Mikami says he will also “punish” lazy people trying to give people “meaning” for their existence
    Stereo typing
    Death note talks about this with Misa Amane to contact Light (Kira) she uses her stereo type as a “dumb blond” yet really she is more cleaver then first anticipated.
    Death
    Death note talk `bout this as with death comes fear and enlightenment because of this people that are good think that Kira is true justice, and with the death note light becomes in his mind “god of this new world”.
    Sanity
    In death note light becomes insane; at the beginning of death note light is a mature and intellectual person. As the plot thickens light becomes insane

  49. MusicalOtaku16 says:

    I completely agree with this review. The end was very good. It’s true that Light’s ideals were very true and pure originally and I liked him to start with, but once he began killing innocent officers and people that were suspicious of him, I knew he had become obsessed with his own power. I agreed with his idea of creating a good world free of criminals like murderers, rapists and the like, but his reactions were cold and heartless and he had no compassion. If I ever had a Death Note, I would only use it to kill true criminals: people who the world would be better off without. Light crossed the line when he started killing innocent people who had no right to die. And when he killed L, well, that was when I got really frustrated with the show. L was, for one, a fantastic and intriguing character, but he was also the perfect opposition to Light. Although I understand that his death was necessary in order to propel the story forward, it still wasn’t the same without him. I would’ve enjoyed a ending where L and Light had one last confrontation before Light died. And speaking of Light’s reaction to L’s death, well. L had said Light was the only real friend he’d ever had; they’d spent hours working together when Light had lost his memory of the Death Note; even that scene with L and Light on the rooftop talking. When L died in Light’s arms, Light showed no compassion whatsoever to L as he died. That was when I realised Light was truly evil.
    That also goes for Soichiro Yagami’s death; Light showed practically no emotion when his own father died.
    In short, the ending was satisfying in some ways and not in others. Light Yagami finally dying was a relief to me, because he’d been such a narcissistic, emotionless egomaniac for most of the show. However, as much as I know it wouldn’t have helped the story, I really wish L had lived until the end, or at least until the last few episodes. The story was a perfect cat-and-mouse-game with him and Light trying to out-smart each other, and without L, it just wasn’t the same.

  50. Loseofit says:

    I would have reacted the same way Light did when his father was dying what else could he do being sad or emotional would not help. The goal was to get Mello’s real name. With Takadea again there was not a lot he could that would not jeopardize his cause as Kira. I support Kira. I think Light is a god or ruler because he is rational and not ruled by emotion.

  51. chris says:

    Or maybe Ryuk was the mastermind behind all this and wrote the whole deathnote narrative plot in his own deathnote so that Light would die years later. :D Ryuk’s the real author here.

  52. Troy says:

    Horrible ending. Not only that Light loses to a punk like Matsuda but it also contains some big logical mistakes. First of all how does Gevanni get into the deposit boxes??? Secondly why don’t the police men find Light despite him being wounded? Mikamis suicide is also ridiculous to me. And the way the series goes you don’t feel as if Ryuk has a reason to kill Light. Stupid way to end a great series.

    The series is also a little short. Wasn’t it successful or was the manga short as well?

  53. JJames says:

    Technically speaking, there’s no such thing as good or bad.

    Anyways, I was sad to see Light die, but knew “good” had to prevail. Also, the lead-up to the meeting foreshadowed his loss pretty heavily.

    The one thing that annoyed me the most was that he didn’t finish writing that name on the scrap. You’d think once he was walking away he would at least try and finish off someone else, but nooooo

    Sadly, even if he did, it wouldn’t be Near, and that’s the person who I wished would die the most.

    L still had this sense of fairness about him, but Near’s smugness and ego really make me want to smash his face in.

    Oh well, at least, as the Death Note says, “Everyone dies”.

  54. KIRA says:

    This is something i realized: If someone wanted to kill someone, wouldn’t it be really easy to do so now, if someone wasn’t Kira. Then, the police would just think, it must have just been another death by Kira. The guy would just simply get away with it.

  55. Utkarsh says:

    I don’t understand how near finds out mikami was x-kira (there is no logical explanation for this)and then one of his spk members steal the true death note from the bank vault as if its too easy and also copies it perfectly (wow ). . . It feels the writer was forced to defeat light in the end and he used mikami as the culprit as light (writers favourite i think)was to smart to do any mistake . . . . . Had it not been for mello there was a big flaw in nears plan

  56. I was hoping for a bigger suspense finale. I would have written the end like this. N says, “you are KIRA! we found you….” N goes on to say, it was a fake. we switched it back…” yada yada yada…….then KIRA smiles, and says, “the reason i wanted you all here is to show you why I am God.” then one by one, each squad member reaches for some samurai swords that x-kira had brought with him, per the instructions from KIRA, as now they are all being controlled by KIRA, because he had already wrote in his piece of paper the names of everyone. Everyone dies, everyone, even x-kira. All who is left is N and KIRA, and since N showed KIRA his own name written in the book, the gospel voices get really dark in the background as he writes the final name down… that would have been true KIRA style.

  57. Hidan Kirito says:

    About light not being a god if he died, he could have just writteh the way he dies into the death note eg.( Yagami Light dies when he looses the death note ). With that, he would protect his power as his life. Also, L’s death affected the whole anime and its fans. There’s been some videos on YouTube depicting the coming of another Shinigami into the human world in the anime. Though, I don’t think the movie is gonna continue where it left off since the plot would just not suit the anime.( My opinion ).

    Also, N was not that much of a challenge in the end. I think the whole death note team just wanted to have a rest and so, rashly made some ending up so as to not disappoint their fans. Overall, the anime has to continue. Death note fans ( like a am ), need to have a much more thrilling second season to keep the otaku flame burning. This is all I have to say. Arigato!

  58. JSC says:

    (Read the manga, not sure how was depicted in the tv show) Everyone was expecting that Ryuuku would write his name since it was already been told, but for me there are two things that I find strange about the ending.

    First and formost the way that Raito/Light/Kira/L yells victory before the time runs out. (not even when the first L died he did that, he always waited for the outcome to be sure)

    Second the way that he acts after, as a pathetic fool. (the power corruption theory does not make sense because he actually haven’t use the death note himself in a long time)

    P.S.: I always thought he would die by saying to Ryuuku, it is time for you to write my name or something like that.

    Along the story there are stuff that I don’t like as well (for instance the random introduction of Mikami Teru), What happen to Misa after Raito’s death (began a cult WTF)?….) The first arc is probably one of the best written arc mangas ever ( the story should have stopped there).

  59. Llama says:

    To think that light would actually die like that in the last episode was a bit shamefull but it’s sad to see that his ideology of the world is rotten is incorrect it seemed he only seen the dark aspects of life instead of the light(ironic to name him light) but in anime he lost the purpose and then changed to who ever opposes him shall die is wrong he doesn’t realize he is becoming rotten himself.i believe the anime was trying to teach us that we have the power to influence others but it is how you do it not by showing others how much power you have

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